After fifteen races, sixty-two racers and countless volunteer hours, the 2016 Coal City Cycles Criterium series wrapped up on July 26. First and foremost, a huge thank you to Peter McCaffery, Patrick Burnham and Mike McCarney who made the series happen. Another thank you to the course marshals who helped keep both the riders and the local motorists safe. (Pretty sure I saw Tony Adema out on Boxwood every week!) Another thank you to the series sponsor, Coal City Cycles located at 1825 Bowen Rd, Nanaimo. As expected, the Senior Men’s category was the most hotly contested. Winner was Nick Kupiak (Broad? Read More

Here’s hoping that Tuesday’s final crit will be an all-out intra-MIVA battle between Lam, Cameron, Burnham and Zavarise for the coveted fourth place podium spot*. With Nick Kupiak (Broad Street Cycles), Ayden Houle (MIVA) and Janna Gillick (Women’s Team ATAC) having locked up their titles and James Sage (MIVA) and Mike Sevcov (Cycle Therapy) having sealed silver and bronze, respectively, there isn’t much on the line except for the smug feeling of satisfaction the winner will get post-race. * Note that in this era of “your kid is a snowflake / everyone deserves a ribbon / I need to Instagram my? Read More

Nick Kupiak (Broad Street Cycles) continues to lead the Senior Men’s tally while James Sage (MIVA) holds on to second place. Mike Sevcov (Cycle Therapy) is in third, showing that consistent results week after week pay off. Big props to Ayden Houle (MIVA), who has taken the overall “W” the past two weeks and continues to lead the Jr. Men. Angelina Landry (MIVA) is on the board in the Senior Women but is trailing Janna Gillick (Team ATAC) by a significant margin in overall points. (Scoring corrected on July 11th)

After eleven weeks of racing in circles, Broad Street Cycles’ Nick Kupiak leads the Sr. men standings. It appears that Kupiak has the series locked up. There is, however, enough time for an epic battle between James Sage (MIVA), Mike Sevcov (Cycle Therapy) and Chris Cameron (MIVA) for the coveted second-place bragging rights. Let’s hope we see some aggressive racing in the upcoming weeks from these three! Meanwhile, Ayden Houle (MIVA) continues to be in the mix with the Sr Men and is leading the Jr Men’s category. Janna Gillick (ATAC) leads the Sr Women’s.

No major shakeups to the top of the standings, but we do have Chris Cameron (MIVA) and Derek Jonson (MIVA) both clawing their way up in the rankings. Nick Kupiak (Broad Street Cycles), Janna Gillick (Team ATAC) and Ayden Houle (MIVA) are still leading their respective categories. Big thank you to the volunteers who stepped in at the last minute to marshal the corners. These events can’t happen without volunteers so please consider taking a night off and lending a hand.

As usual, riders will line up at 7PM at Boxwood Road in Nanaimo. Sign-on is at 6:30PM at the entrance to Longwood Brewery. Nick Kupiak (Broad Street Cycles) is crushing it with James Sage (MIVA) hot on his heels. Last week’s race saw Mike Sevcov (Cycle Therapy) starting to close the gap on John Lam (MIVA). Lee Zavarise (MIVA) has been steadily hanging in there and has now moved into fifth position. Neil Bryant (Cycle Therapy) has been using his explosive sprint to power himself into sixth position.

The latest criterium, run as a points race, caused a bit of a shakeup near the top of the heap for the men. #broadstreetjerks rider Nick Kupiak took #allthepoints so he’s still leading the standings. His training at Camp Whiskey Foxtrot has served him well. Meanwhile criterium rookie James Sage has proved that he’s a quick learner with a strong kick and has moved up into second place with a single point lead over John Lam, who, according to Strava insiders, was out riding mountain bikes last night. Steady as always, Mike Sevcov remains in fourth place. However, another big move of? Read More

Mid Island Velo Association is saddened to hear of the tragic passing of 2013 World Cup champion, local downhill mountain bike racer Steve Smith. His family has set up a legacy fund intended to assist talented young athletes reach their potential. Information on the fund can be found here: https://www.gofundme.com/23k7fus